The present invention relates to a regenerative braking system for a car, and particularly to a regenerative braking system for a car wherein the decelerating energy of a car is captured and used for the starting/accelerating energy.
In a PTO (Power-take-off) output unit (system) or a deceleration energy recovery system as conventionally known, a part of the kinetic energy which is dissipated mainly as heat at a brake or engine during the deceleration of a car is captured in the form of hydraulic operating oil and accumulated in an accumulator. The accumulated energy is utilized for the starting energy and accelerating energy of the car.
For example, in 1976 C. J. Lorence Corporation in England announced the development of such a system using a bus of British Leyland Corporation. Since then, various research and development has been conducted in Europe.
Recently, Japanese patent application Laid-open Nos. 62-15128, 62-37215, 62-39327 have disclosed a deceleration energy recovery system which is essentially formed of a transmission (hereinafter referred to as T/M), a multi-stage gear-changed PTO unit, a PTO output shaft, a pump/motor, a hydraulic oil circuit, an electromagnetic clutch, an accumulator, and a control unit.
The T/M includes a counter shaft driven through an engine clutch, a main shaft connected to a wheel driving line, and a multi-staged gear train mechanism transferring the rotation of the counter shaft to the main shaft through the gears. The multi-stage gear-changed PTO unit includes a counter shaft PTO gear disconnectably coupled to the counter shaft through a counter shaft PTO gear synchronizer, a main shaft PTO gear coupled to the counter shaft PTO gear and disconnectably coupled to the main shaft through a main shaft PTO gear synchronizer, and a PTO output shaft driven through driving gears coupled to the main shaft PTO gear. The pump/motor is coupled to the PTO output shaft. The hydraulic oil circuit consists of a high pressure oil line and a low pressure oil line, and serves to connect the accumulator to an oil tank through the pump/motor. The electromagnetic clutch serves to connect/disconnect the oil circuit to/from the PTO shaft.
The control unit controls the electromagnetic clutch and works the pump/motor as either of a pump or motor in response to the running condition of the car. Namely, for working the pump/motor as a pump, the torque of the wheels during the decelerating mode serves to accumulate the operating oil into the accumulator through the PTO unit, thereby to capture the kinetic energy, i.e. braking energy, mainly lost as heat in the brake or engine, and for working the pump/motor as a motor, the operating oil accumulated in the accumulator serves to generate starting/accelerating torque to drive the wheels through the PTO unit.
The control manner of this control unit is as follows:
.circle.1 When the car starts with the inner pressure of the accumulator being sufficient, the pump/motor is controlled to serve as a variable capacity type motor, the capacity of which is controlled by varing the displacement angle (incline angle) of the swash plate or shaft in response to the accelerator pedal positions.
Since the pump/motor is also connected to the electromagnetic clutch, when the electromagnetic clutch is coupled to the PTO unit by the control unit, the pump/motor drives the car based on the hydraulic power accumulated in the oil circuit.
In the meantime, when the car speed exceeds a preset value corresponding to the gear position selected by a driver, the engine clutch is coupled to the engine for engine cruising. At the same time the PTO unit is gear-changed so as to turn off the counter shaft synchronizer which was on and turn on the main shaft synchronizer which was off. The combined cruising of the pump/motor with the engine is carried out according to the hydraulic power based on the pedal position only if the accelerator pedal is largely operated by the foot.
.circle.2 During the braking mode, the electromagnetic clutch is made on, and the displacement angle control signal (pump capacity control signal) according to the brake pedal position is supplied to the pump/motor for the corresponding pumping operation while at the same time the engine is declutched.
Thus, the control unit controls the engine clutch to decouple the engine from the driving line of the wheels in order to capture a part of the braking energy which is to be consumed in the engine during the braking mode and to relieve the captured energy during the accelerating mode, while coupling the engine to the driving line in order to use the engine power alone or in combination with the motor during the starting/accelerating mode.
Furthermore, in the braking mode, the pumping capacity of the pump/motor is varied from 0.about.100% of the scope thereof corresponding to 0.about.30% of the swing scope of the brake pedal. Namely, at the initial stage of the swing scope of the brake pedal, deceleration energy is accumulated into the accumulator at the maximum rate for the hydraulic power.
However, the hydraulic braking power by the pump/motor depends upon the pumping capacity as well as the inner pressure of the hydraulic circuit at the moment, so that the hydraulic braking power as generated fails to correspond to the position of the braking pedal even though only the pumping capacity is made to correspond to the position of the brake pedal.
Therefore, even if the position of the brake pedal remains unchanged, braking power as generated is large when the hydraulic pressure is high. Also, if the brake pedal is continuously operated by the foot, the inner pressure of the accumulator will increase, thereby increasing the braking power.
Thus, it is disadvantageous that drivers have difficulties in feeling the braking power at the time of the operation by the foot.